A COMMUNITY hub and drop-in centre in Okehampton for adults with learning disabilities is attracting attention from across Devon with its pioneering approach. The Puzzle Tree Centre has been at the Riverside Club, home of Okehampton Table Tennis Club since last October and is being seen as a model for schemes in other areas. Puzzle Tree is part of a move away from traditional day centres for learning disabled people towards a more community-based approach. These changes have been introduced in response to the Government White Paper Valuing People and aim to allow people to live a more independent life. Tracey Seymour, Fulfilling Lives team leader for the Okehampton and Crediton area, who is based at the centre, said: ?We are being encouraged to move away from big day centres to allow people who still come to us to access community facilities. ?We now find out what people would like to do and support them to do it within the community.? The centre is a hive of activity in the first hour of every morning where its users come into Puzzle Tree to meet up before heading out on various excursions or educational activities. Others drop into the centre on a casual basis allowing them to combine visiting the centre to see their friends or find out information with employment or going to college. Lynda Felim, drop in centre co-ordinator explained her role. ?People can come to us and access information, or just have a chat.? She said she worked with fellow co-ordinator Penny Marten-Smith to compile a comprehensive events diary, so the centre?s users would never be stuck for a place to go or something to do in the local area. Staff say the centre has a number of regular users but there are more people in the area who could be eligible to benefit from day services but do not currently attend. Mrs Seymour said there was still something of a stigma about day services, but everyone was working hard to promote the changes in the system. Mrs Seymour said they were very grateful to the Table Tennis Club with whom they shared the facilities and had developed a good relationship. ?Sometimes we all sit and have a coffee together, which is nice.? The location close to the town centre also allows the adults who attend the centre to go out to a café for lunch if they want. She said: ?Whereas previously everyone who had a learning disability went to a day centre where their day was planned, now people are asked what they want to do and why. ?For example, we had one gentleman who said he wanted to go on the computers, and when we asked him why, it was so that he could use drawing programmes. ?So then we were able to find lots of other ways of getting him involved in drawing and bringing out his artistic side.? She said many of the things which people at the centre most wanted to do were activities that most of us would take for granted, such as feeding the ducks in the pond or going into a newsagents on our own. Mrs Seymour said they had been ?very thoughtful? about the way in which they had become more involved with community and she said they had received a good response from the groups they had asked to work with. ?It is about being honest with people and saying what we are trying to do, and people are becoming more aware,? she said. Some of the community projects Puzzle Tree is involved in are the Okehampton Walk and Talk Scheme, the STOC group, the Proper Job recycling project and Get Changed Theatre Company. The project has been achieved in partnership with the charity organisation CAREDevon whose support has allowed Okehampton to be at the front line of the changes in day care. Mrs Seymour said the Puzzle Tree did not make the Leaze redundant and its future was safe. ?We still have the Leaze to support people if we can?t find places in the community for people to enable them to continue the activities they enjoy. We also use it for people who have more complex needs. ?We will continue to have a building based service in the town.? The centre is open Monday to Friday from 9.30am-2.30pm. However, Mrs Seymour said part of the modernisation of day care meant that in future they would have to ?offer a more flexible service?. The users of the centre seem to be in agreement that the changes have led to an improvement ? they say they enjoy getting out more often and doing new things.
